The arson attack in a revered Kyoto animation studio killed 36 people and injured dozens more.

A Japanese man has been sentenced to death for an arson attack at a Kyoto animation studio in 2019 which killed 36 people and injured dozens more.

The incident, one of Japan’s deadliest in recent decades, killed mostly young artists and shocked the anime world.

Shinji Aoba, 45, pleaded guilty to the attack but his lawyers had sought a lighter sentence on grounds of “mental incompetence”.

Judges rejected this however, ruling that Aoba knew what he was doing.

“I have determined that the defendant was not mentally insane or weak at the time of the crime,” Chief Judge Masuda said on Thursday at Kyoto District Court.

  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.worldEnglish
    195·
    8 months ago

    To be fair, it’s quite generous to call a political system based on a 1700s document “modern”…

    • Scrongle@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      8 months ago

      That’s a peculiar statement, considering the U.S. is essentially the most recent major nation (and one of very few) to be formed and grown, about as far from the intense pressures of previously established cultural or governmental influences (both from within, or from surrounding territories) as you can get, without leaving the planet.

      …If that’s not considered relatively modern when compared to the rest of the world, what is?

      • yesman@lemmy.worldEnglish
        01·
        8 months ago

        That’s a particular statement, considering the US has the oldest democratic constitution in the world.